Volunteers with Orange County Coastkeeper and Coastal Playground hit a milestone 20,000 pounds of trash collected at the beach since 2011. They preserve the moment with a photo in Huntington Beach on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The seagull inched toward the pile of trash on the sand, sticking its beak into the debris to investigate.

“This little bird has been trying to eat all the trash,” said Lauren Smith of Orange County Coastkeeper. “They just mistake it for their own food source.”

Jackie Mark, former Coastkeeper cleanup coordinator, and 9-year-old Nolan Rodriguez take part in a beach cleanup at Huntington State Beach on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017. About 200 volunteers collected 379 pounds of trash. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Amalie Smith, 13, scours the rocks for trash during the Orange County Coastkeeper cleanup at Huntington State Beach on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017. Volunteers collected 379 pounds of trash for a milestone total of 20,000 pounds of trash since 2011 when the group started its efforts. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Amalie Smith, 13, pulls up a grimy chip bag stuck in the rocks during the Orange County Coastkeeper cleanup at Huntington State Beach on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017. Volunteers collected 379 pounds of trash for a milestone total of 20,000 pounds of trash since 2011 when the group started its efforts. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

An Anaheim High School student goes into the water to collect trash during cleanup efforts at Huntington State Beach on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A seagull eyes trash collected by volunteers before picking through it at Huntington State Beach on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jackie Mark, former Coastkeeper cleanup coordinator, shows off a piece of styrofoam collected during a cleanup in Huntington Beach on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017. She says it never decomposes and can kill wildlife. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Nolan Rodriguez, 9, shows off a piece of rebar collected during a beach cleanup at Huntington State Beach on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017. About 200 volunteers collected 379 pounds of trash. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Nolan Rodriguez, 9, and his dad James Rodriguez take part in the Coastkeeper cleanup at Huntington State Beach on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Volunteers with Orange County Coastkeeper and Coastal Playground hit a milestone 20,000 pounds of trash collected at the beach since 2011. They preserve the moment with a photo in Huntington Beach on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Andrew Sneddon, with Coastal Playground, is all smiles as volunteers collect a milestone total of 20,000 pounds of trash since 2011. They were at Huntington State Beach on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Andrew Sneddon with Coastal Playground celebrates a milestone total of 20,000 pounds of trash collected since 2011. He and cleanup volunteers were at Huntington State Beach on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

An estimated 275 volunteers showed up at Huntington State Beach for a common goal Saturday morning: Get as much junk off the beach as possible, in part so that birds and other marine life don’t end up ingesting garbage.

The group meets regularly every month, but Saturday’s gathering saw a special milestone, marking 20,000 pounds of trash collected since the group started holding cleanups in 2011.

In its first four years, Coastkeeper collected 10,000 pounds of trash. Another 10,000 pounds was picked up the next two years, the increase in part thanks to more volunteers, but also because of more trash on the beach, Smith said.

Smith said last winter’s heavy storms helped push an unprecedented amount of trash onto the beach. In February, volunteers picked up the most trash they’ve ever collected at one time, when 200 volunteers disposed of about 1,200 pounds.

Volunteers surpassed the goal of the 20,000-pound milestone after collecting 379 pounds total through Saturday morning.

On a black blanket on the sand, two bags of trash were laid out for people to see what type of things were picked up through the morning. They included three hypodermic needles, two Vodka bottles and plenty of Styrofoam and cigarette butts.

Smith said one of Coastkeepers’ goals next year is to work with the homeless encampments to try and keep riverbeds clean. A sister program in the Inland Empire has been bringing trash bags to encampments and also holding weekly cleanups.

“They don’t have any place to put it. Often times they’ll just move when there’s too much trash in the area,” she said.

Coastal Playground founder Andrew Sneddon said the Santa Ana River is like a “vein” that goes inland, and when it rains, it’s “like an island of trash over there,” he said, pointing to where the Santa Ana River meets with the ocean.

Coastal Playground also marked a milestone Saturday, with its 100th clean up with Coastkeeper. The company sells products like organic clothing and ocean photography and donates 50 perfect of the proceeds to cleanups along the coast.

Sneddon said part of the goal is to use the cleanups as education.

“Kids help out. They see it, we tell them how they can help the marine life to help out,” he said. “We try to get them while they are young.”

Such was the case for Nolan Rodriguez, 9, who has done about 30 cleanups.

“I body board and I just see a lot of fish and birds and I just want to help them out by cleaning up trash,” the Huntington Beach resident said.

Volunteer Jason Leland, 17, of Lake Forest, helped out to get service stars for his club, the National Honors Society. He was surprised at how much garbage littered the sand.

“There’s a lot more than I expected,” he said. “It’s interesting how some beaches are worse than others. Some beaches need more help.”

Laylan Connelly started as a journalist in 2002 after earning a degree in journalism from the University of Southern California. Through the years, she has covered several cities for The Orange County Register, starting as a beat reporter in Irvine before focusing on coastal cities such as Newport Beach, Dana Point and Laguna Beach. In 2007, she was selected for a prestigious Knight New Media fellowship focusing on digital media at UC Berkeley, where she learned skills to adapt to the ever-changing online landscape. Using a web-based approach, she turned her love for the ocean into a full-time gig as the paper’s beaches reporter. The unique beat allows her to delve into coastal culture by covering everything from the countless events dotting the 42 miles of coastline, to the business climate of the surf industry, to the fascinating wildlife that shows up on the shores. Most importantly, she takes pride in telling stories of the people who make the beaches so special, whether they are surfers using the ocean to heal, or the founders of major surf brands who helped spawn an entire culture, or people who tirelessly fight to keep the coast pristine and open for all to enjoy. She’s a world traveler who loves to explore the slopes during winter months or exotic surf spots around the globe. When she’s not working, or maybe while she's researching a story, you can find her longboarding at her favorite surf spots at San Onofre or Doheny.